A/N:I don't own Avatar.Also,this set immediately after Crossroads.
That night...
Gentle,coaxing swirls of air hit Toph in quick shafts as she road atop Appa's head,with her legs folded Indian style inward and her rough hands clasped in her lap.Silence prevailed at this time and seemed to be the only thing for certain.Toph could not be certain Katara was still gazing down worriedly at Aang,or that Sokka was still mulling over Suki's fate or that the Earth King was still trying to seek some sort of wisdom from his large bear Basco who he had been talking to for quite a while.Normally that would annoy Toph but recalled the time she had talked with Appa.She knew he had listened,almost like she had sung for him.
Song of silent stars...A womanly voice sang through to her from memories long passed.
Toph rose her gaze to the sky,sometimes she could faintly feel the white trail of the moon upon her but she knew it was not out.Not full,not half nor cresent.Stars were another thing all together.Toph could not feel stars but she knew there were many of them and it wasn't only because she'd been told there were,it was because sometimes Toph could hear them.
Not in the same way one might expect but in the way that the heart knows that it has been consumed by true love or the way dreams existed even when one had no proof.The song the stars sang were not in words and yet still held meaning.Meaning above all knowledge.
Far beyond the moon...Her mother's voice came carassing back to Toph as did the air.
The wind was growing a little stronger and with it,a bit more chilled.Wrapping herself with her arms and scooting over,Toph huddled down into the groove of one of Appa's horns.A few small shivers but other then that she was fine.Curiousty started to nip at her conscious.
What were the others doing?It seemed not important at the moment where any destination of particular interest might lie,they were just flying.Toph tried to tone down her wondering but found it impossible.Slowly,she shifted to face in the direction of the others and strained to listen.She heard nothing but the faint whistle of the wind.They could be gone for all Toph knew and then it would just be her and Appa,the two of them soaring off into a new plain.
The call of harmonious voices...Toph turned back over.Will some day reach you soon.
As cold pressed against the young girl's face,she could feel her eyes starting to sting.Her mother's voice kept getting stronger and more coherent but not necessarily louder.She had always had this softness to her when she was alone with her daugther,when she needed to be comforted but that seemed so long ago.Suddenly,Toph felt like she was older then time itself.It happened so unexpectedly;she felt herself now attuned with all of her surroundings.
"Song of silent songs,"A voice so thin and shrill that for a moment Toph didn't know who's it belonged to sang."Far beyong the moon..."It worked itself into a more stable,calm pitch.
Toph could sense eyes on her now.They were waiting,non-judging looks that she wouldn't have recieved home.They were just curious.However,not everyone was looking at her yet.
"The call of harmonious voices,will someday reach you soon...they shelter your soul,to light the flame of faith.To ease your building pain and help to keep you safe."Her voice sounded so natural and yet so different to Toph,it filled the cool night sky with a new life of it's own.
"Coaxing you to care,undoing your despair."she paused,shuddering slightly."To help you to stand,hand-within-hand.'You shall live again',they sing.No force is strong enough to bring one person to defeat.The song of silent stars,far beyond the moon.The call of harmonious voices,will some day reach you soon...some day soon..."Toph's voice drifted into nothing.
Sleep settled onto her as the eyes of the everyone else's did onto her now slumbering form from a distance.It was the first time they had all looked in one direction,the first time in a long time they had experienced something no other person could have brought to them.A sense of hope,hope that transcended into the brink of eternity.Where stars of silence sang.
"Katara,"A still voice whispered in the complete fall of darkness.
She gazed down at him,a bit startled."Yes,Aang?"
"Look,"He indicated upwards,a smile reaching the corners of his mouth."Up above you."
"What is it?"Katara asked carefully,reeling some from the impact of Toph's beautiful voice.
Aang laughed softly."Stars.Very tiny but they're there,"he sounded profound."I hear them."
The End.